1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus having a movable load beating surface and, more particularly, to such an apparatus which, in its preferred embodiment, can be employed as a treadmill-type exercising apparatus achieving operative advantages not heretofore achieved in the art.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Movable load bearing surfaces are employed in a variety of operative environments in the transport of a wide variety of types of work objects. Depending upon the objectives and demands of the particular operative environment, the criteria to be employed in evaluating the success of such operation may vary.
For example, in the exercise equipment industry the use of treadmill-type exercising machines has been known for a significant period of time. Such exercising machines typically consist of a flexible rubberized, or synthetic plastic belt which is traveled about a pair of spaced cylindrical pulleys. The upper run of the belt is traveled over a rigid bed extending substantially over the entire underside of the upper run of the belt and reinforced for the purpose of supporting the belt during use. As the upper run of the belt is traveled over the bed of the treadmill-type exercising device, the user walks or runs in place at a velocity sufficient to remain substantially in place on the upper run of the belt. The velocity of the belt is, accordingly, adjusted to suit the desired velocity of the person. Because of the inherent flexibility of the belt material, the bed is required to support the upper run of the belt against the weight and downward pressure applied by the user in walking or running. Were it not for the bed, the belt would simply collapse under the weight and downward force applied by the user.
Such construction, in conventional treadmill-type exercising devices, presents a myriad of operative disadvantages which substantially detract from the operability thereof. Rested engagement of the under surface of the upper run of the belt on the bed produces a substantial friction resisting movement of the belt over the bed. Thus, a more powerful drive system is required than would otherwise be the case. Similarly, the friction produced by movement of the belt over the bed causes substantial wearing of the belt requiting that it frequently be replaced or repaired. For the same reason, the other operative elements of such conventional exercising devices, and particularly those in the drive train, require frequent replacement and repair because of the substantial load placed on them by means of the drag encountered in the movement of the belt over the bed. These problems are aggravated by the fact that the belt supports the weight of a person exercising on the exercising device as well as receiving the additional force applied thereto in the walking or running movement of the user.
Still further, the rigidity of the bed of the treadmill-type exercising device affords little or no cushioning to the body of the person exercising thereon. Thus, the force applied to the upper run of the belt and thereby to the bed by the user during walking or running is transferred back through the feet of the user into the body causing trauma, particularly to joints, muscles and organs of the body. Over time, such trauma can produced chronic soreness, injury or other discomfort which detracts from the desirability of using the exercising device. All such prior art treadmill-type exercising devices of which the applicant is aware have possessed this structure and accordingly suffered from the foregoing operative disadvantages.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus having a movable load bearing surface which has particular utility in use as a treadmill-type exercising apparatus and wherein the belt employed thereon can be rotated in its normal path of movement with minimum wearing or damage to the belt itself, the supporting structure therefor, the drive train operable to drive the belt, and the other operative components of the exercising apparatus all in an apparatus which imparts a cushioning effect ensuring that discomfort, trauma and injury are reduce to a minimum not heretofore achieved in the art.